Article by Donna Davis
Harnessing nuclear fusion as an energy source has puzzled scientists for decades, but an upper school student at Maine’s Berwick Academy believed he could take on the challenge. Working with the school’s Berwick Innovation Center, he built his own nuclear fusion reactor—off-site. Another Berwick student took a less volatile, yet still scientific, approach to invention. She created the “perfect” dark chocolate cupcake recipe based on chemistry principles and focus group feedback.
The two Berwick students are among countless participants in the maker movement, which started around 2005 with the first Maker Faire in New York and has since blossomed into a global phenomenon in schools and communities. They tinker, build, hack and create in makerspaces—also known by terms such as idea labs, innovation centers, fab labs and tinker labs. To Laura Fleming, an educator active in the movement and author of Worlds of Making, “a makerspace is a metaphor for a unique learning environment that encourages tinkering, play and open-ended exploration for all.” Unlike conventional classrooms, these spaces contain tools of all kinds, from 3D printers to knitting needles.
Within independent schools, makerspaces and other innovative learning spaces operate in new as well as existing spaces. School libraries, for instance, are evolving into high-tech centers of collaboration sometimes called learning commons. The outdoors also figures prominently in the movement, whether in a playground purposefully designed with the curriculum in mind or the places and people of a school’s city. Collectively, these spaces bring STEM and STEAM initiatives to students and all aspects of the curriculum. The long-term effect, educators hope, is that students learn more creative thinking and entrepreneurial skills to support them in college and beyond.
Creating a 21st-Century Learning Environment
As independent schools consider adding these spaces to their campuses, business officers and other administrators must evaluate possibilities through the lens of their budgets and strategic goals. Does such a project fit into the school’s mission? What form would it take? How would the school find dollars to equip it? How much space would it require? What about long-term funding for new equipment and supplies, upkeep and staffing?
“Innovation is expensive,” says Robert Sager, president and founder of Edu-Tech Academic Solutions, which provides technology support and staffing to independent schools and helps them design and operate makerspaces. “The very word ‘innovation’ means you are continually looking for new and better ideas, and that means you’re spending money. You have to have a budget behind you.”
Here are some best practices for setting up a new learning environment.
Assess the Need
As innovative learning spaces become more popular, some administrators might feel pressured to keep pace with the competition. As always, independent school leaders should look first at their mission and strategic plan, Sager says. “The last thing you want to do is put one in because the two schools on either side of you have one and you think you need it to compete. It needs to serve a purpose.”
In addition, trustees are advised to consider the cost-benefit calculation and return on investment, in terms of student outcomes as well as financials, Sager says.
Although makerspaces can create new options for summer camps and other auxiliary programs, Douglas Lagarde, head of school for Severn School, cautions against thinking of them primarily as revenue enhancers. Severn, an 845-student, preK–12 day school in Severna Park, Maryland, opened its Graw Innovation Center in fall 2015. “The ROI has to be about the kids,” Lagarde says. “If they are interested in trying to develop novel solutions to problems, then we have the best ROI we can have.” Any financial benefits are secondary. “It wasn’t done to attract kids, but like your athletics or your drama programs or STEM and STEAM programs, they attract students and they also attract faculty.”
Identify the Space
Some schools elect to gut existing buildings or, as with Severn School, build new ones to accommodate their goals. But a new innovative learning space does not have to involve a major capital campaign—schools may be able to repurpose existing square footage.
At Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills, Maryland, learning is heading outside with a new “Outdoor Classroom” for lower-school students. Scheduled to open in spring 2016, the new space will include a mud kitchen, water features, a garden and a stage. Teachers have developed curriculum to guide play in the space. The concept for the $260,000 project came from Nature Explore (natureexplore.org), a nonprofit that provides concepts for outdoor classrooms and training for teachers. “The area is a combination of imaginative play and learning in defined ways,” says Bill Hodgetts, assistant head of school for finance and operations.
In Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, Stratford Friends School turned a PC lab into the Innovation Center for its lower and middle schools. Sager helped the school reimagine the space with 3D design renderings superimposed digitally over images of the original space. “The idea was to make the space more inviting and valued in a cost-effective way,” he says. The center now features programs ranging from coding to robotics.
Determine the Budget
All in, the full cost of a makerspace includes design, building and/or renovation costs; costs for equipment, supplies and ongoing maintenance; and money for staffing. Think long term, advises Terry del Prete, Severn School’s director of business and finance. “It’s not just putting in money the first year and not expecting to do more.”
Del Prete compares budgeting for Graw Innovation Center to creating an asset management plan for deferred maintenance. Because makerspace equipment, supplies and furnishings can be expensive, look beyond annual costs to future expenditures for equipment repairs or replacement as well as supplies. “Your costs are going to continue and they may even grow as the program grows,” he says.
Get the Right Stuff
When it comes to equipping a makerspace, Edutopia, the George Lucas Education Foundation’s website, recommends focusing on items that fit the budget and give the most impact at the lowest cost. Not every space needs a 3D printer and a laser cutter. Activities, tools and materials can be as varied as ages of students using them. Besides high-tech machines, items might include woodworking tools, electronics parts, robotics parts, sewing machines and drills, along with wood, textiles, cardboard, wire and paint to use with them.
Schools can also repurpose or recycle materials. At Bennett Day School in Chicago, 5- and 6-year-old students built a model of the city of Chicago using foil packing material and other objects similar to objects they discovered as they explored the streets and neighborhoods for their research. Another option: Ask families or local organizations to donate worn-out electronics, toys or tennis balls, or collect items like cardboard, straws and popsicle sticks.
Talk to the End Users
Soliciting teacher and student input on the right type of innovative learning project ahead of time means the new space will get more buy-in and use. Encourage teachers to voice their ideas about using the space to teach, Sager says. Students can express their interests and learning goals.
To build teacher interest in its Graw Innovation Center, Severn School has invited teachers, staff and students into the space to explore and play with the resources, says Kelly Wilson, director of Severn’s innovative and entrepreneurial programs. She also holds brainstorming sessions with teachers. “They tell me this is what they want to accomplish, and I look for creative solutions.”
Patience is important. While adventurous and tech-savvy students may be ready to jump right in, some teachers have never encountered makerspaces. Professional development and in-house demonstrations can help. “Enacting change requires patience and reflection on what programs will add value,” Wilson says.
Find a Leader
The largest ongoing expense for an innovative learning space may be the faculty member who leads it. This individual is essential, says Sager. “It’s something that is overlooked more than anything—who is going to manage the space, and more importantly, be a coach and mentor to students and teachers?” A dedicated director gives teachers an expert to consult with on projects and to keep momentum going.
At Bennett Day School, this leader is Colin Reynolds, curator of the TinkerLab. “He is literally on the cutting edge of kids in the tinkering movement,” says school CEO Cameron Smith. Reynolds works with three to six students at a time and helps teachers ensure that the projects and materials they are using mesh with the students’ classroom learning. Reynolds will also work at the school’s campus for older students when it opens in fall 2016 in Chicago. As the school grows, Smith says, more faculty will come on board with the curator.
Fundraise and More
Makerspace donors can surprise schools. At Phoenix Country Day School, the donor for the Cole Center for Art, Science and Innovation was someone new to the community who wanted to be involved in a unique project, CFO Kathy Peters says (see sidebar, next page). Severn School got its major gift from an entrepreneur whose grandchildren had been students there. His goal, says Lagarde, was to give students a place where they could “fail successfully.” Schools can also look for support—in the form of money, mentoring or sponsorship—from local engineering and tech companies, Sager says. Other schools have used crowdfunding platforms such as Indiegogo.
Grants are available for makerspaces. Berwick Academy has received several grants for its Innovation Center, including a $30,000 Follett Challenge Award and multiple Edward E. Ford Foundation grants. The Follett grant recognized Berwick’s transformation of its traditional library, says Darcy Coffta, upper school librarian and director of innovation.
